UN peace operations, INGOs, NGOs, and promoting the rule of law: exploring the intersection of international and local norms in different postwar contexts

Abstract

The challenge for UN peace missions promoting the rule of law is not only to adapt international norms to changing contexts or local laws which are not consistent with international human rights standards. It is also to understand, first, that, in many contexts, the local law is no more than on paper somewhere – which has nothing to due with the reality and the informal rules which have been developed. This is usually associated with a certain number of collective representations regarding the figure of the state, the judicial apparatus and the police. Second, the basis for the establishment of the rule of law is the result of an encounter, an outcome rather than a given. The rule of law cannot be constructed without integrating local actors’ different frames of reference and organization, with all their historical baggage, including their relation to the universal. The essay evaluates the interaction between global and local NGO actors to evaluate how norms are formed and implemented.